Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Elections for the (Poor, Uninformed, Easily Swayed) Masses

Okay, seeeeeriously, I'm getting sick of being talked down to by pundits and news reporters and political experts and various talk radio hosts about the presidential and vice presidential nominees. I'm sure this is getting blogged about literally all over the world, but I feel like if have to at least get this down so that 10 years from now I'll remember what was going on.

Some of you may not remember, but Barack Obama gave a little speech last night accepting his nomination for president at the DNC. Do you remember that? Did you talk about it today? Yes, you remember, but no you probably didn't talk about it because John McCain's camp made a brilliant move: they announced their nominee for vice president, Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, who no one has heard of until today. That incredible speech that Barack Obama gave should have been playing on every media outlet today. It was measured, it was well thought out, it was impeccably delivered. 43 minutes after he started I was staring at the TV in surprise. I've been a luke-warm supporter of him since campaigning started- I'm a Hillary fan. But after I heard a speech with substance I felt a lot better and I know he could help this world, not just the country. And that he has a plan, and that he can stand up to the tough stuff. If I had the money I'd go help his campaign.

But no, today was Sarah Palin's day. Her irritating voice has been all over the news all day long. She's a conservative Christian. She's got a lot of kids (which translates into soccer mom, which gives an image of warmth and sweetness and cookie baking). She's all for drilling in Alaska. She's a member of the NRA. And she's against abortion.

And SOMEHOW this translates into a move that McCain made to try to get Hillary supporters on his side. Hunh? How could this woman be more unlike Hillary? I see absolutely no resemblance. And it is really getting on my nerves because if this were a white man there would be little or no talk about how he could sway Hillary supporters. According to the media, women support women because they're women. Not based on their convictions or experience or ideas. Sort of like how it MUST be that black people vote for black people because they're black. And apparently these two huge groups of people never voted when there were a couple of white men up for office, because how on earth could they relate? And gosh, what about those black women? What will they do NOW? I mean, elect a black man into office, or elect a president who is old and has health problems so that maybe he'll keel over and a woman will take over? I just don't get it. When we compare potential vice presidents, who has done more for women? Who is talking about the fact that there is still unequal pay for women and who has done major things for victims of domestic violence? Joe Biden, the old white vice presidential guy. You can't judge a book by its cover and you can't judge presidential candidates by their sex or race or religion or sexual preference or disability, or any of the other things that have no bearing on who a person is.

Whew, rant over. But I have to tell you that I am wishing the election was over already. I remember the disappointment when the Republicans won out for the last two elections, and I really don't want to feel that again.